‘Toxic Trudeau' kept off campaign trail as he focuses on memoirs
He dominated Canadian politics for a decade. But almost nothing has been seen or heard of Justin Trudeau since he stepped down as prime minister last month.
His Liberal Party, with a new leader, has the advantage as the country heads into a general election on Monday.
Just so long as it can avoid reminding people of the scandals and missteps that eventually ended his political career.
'It's astonishing. It's almost Soviet-like how he's been erased from history. He never comes up, nobody ever talks about him,' said Dan Robertson, a conservative strategist.
'He's just vanished. And of course, if I were a liberal, if I were a liberal strategist, I'd be very happy with that.'
It is not unusual for a candidate to distance themselves from a problem predecessor.
Last year, Joe Biden was all but absent from Kamala Harris's campaign trail once he was forced to ditch his re-election bid amid concerns about his age and fitness for office. It meant Ms Harris could position herself as a candidate for the future, while aides claimed Mr Biden was simply busy being president and was not, as most observers believed, simply a political liability.
Sources told a Canadian newspaper that Mr Trudeau had no plans to appear on the campaign trail, but was weighing two book deals and a proposal for a documentary.
For now, he is reportedly renting a home in the capital Ottawa, so that his children can finish their school year, before moving to Montreal.
The Liberal Party has moved quickly to remove his fingerprints from its manifesto, ditching some of his signature policies.
It is working. Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England who replaced Mr Trudeau as Liberal Party leader, is now favourite to win.
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